Yesterday, Sega held a private show for journalists and distributors at Ota Pio Plaza in Tokyo to announce the lineup of its upcoming titles until Autumn 2013. The unveiled new titles were mainly medal games with Horuka × Toluca and Fist of the North Star. The only new arcade video game was maimai GreeN. The sequel to maimai, the hit musical game from Sega, will bring some new features. Musically, there will be new Vocaloid tracks, anime and J-POP songs. The game will be more focused on multiplayer: there will be advantages to play with friends. A "maimile" point system will allow players to purchase items and music. Every month new items will be added and events will take place. Other announcements were about updates to popular titles. Border Break Ver.3.5 will be released in June, new huge weapons a new type of mission "Union order" will be added. Sengoku Taisen 1590: Aoi, Kanhasshuu ni Tatsu is also announced for June. In this new chapter of the saga that takes place in 1590, Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified the country and a new era begins. Ieyasu Tokugawa and Chosokabe Motochikao join the list of generals featured in the game and 150 new cards will be released to reach a total of 900 cards. The two generals have their own scenario. Phantom Breaker Another Code ver1.1 should be released soon, Caladrius is planned for this Summer and Puyo Puyo Quest Arcade for November. Zukan no Tamago, a game for children was also presented.

The new Hatsune Miku arcade game is announced: the title is Hatsune Miku Project DIVA Arcade Future Tone. It will be on location test at the new Club Sega Akihabara this weekend. Players can fill out a questionnaire to give their impression on the game. The new "Type2.0 AC Module" character module allows graphical improvements: the movements are more precise and smoother, facial expressions are much more detailed and the hair animation is more dynamic. The main innovation is the new "touch slider" control (placed just above the buttons) as in the home console title Hatsune Miku-Project DIVA-f. When the slider icon appears on the screen, the player must drag his finger on it in the direction indicated. Module selection screens are renewed and 3 customization sets of Hatsune Miku-Project DIVA-f are added. The songs available for the location test are "Cat Food" by Doriko and "Unhappy Refrain" by Wowaka. Watch the video to discover the new features.

We knew the shockboxes, nice plastic cases to replace the cardboard boxes of MVS cartridges. Arcade Works goes further by proposing to replace the plastic shell of MVS cartridges with a more practical and aesthetic model. This one is similar to the model used for the Neo-Geo cartridges. Like them, it features a square sticker with an artwork of the game covering the edge and one face of the cart (prettier than the original monochrome strip). The shell is designed in such a way that you do not damage the sticker when opening it. It retains the dimensions of the original MVS cartridge, which allows it to fit in a shockbox. Arcade Works uses crowd-funding via Kickstarter to launch the manufacture of these "Omega" shells in the United States. The "pre-sale" price is $15 for a black shell (sticker printing included) and $135 for 10 units (shipping excluded). Other colours are planned for the future (clear, red, green, blue, ...). It is not certain that this project will succeed because there's only three days left to reach the $22,500 amount needed to start manufacturing. Only $3,213 was collected so far. So if you're interested, it's time to place your order and spread the word!

Arc System Works announced its next arcade title during the Arc Fes today: Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-. It will be distributed via Sega's ALL.Net P-ras MULTI (RingEdge 2). As the previous Guilty Gear games, it is directed by Daisuke Ishiwatari and uses the Unreal Engine. A website is already open but it doesn't give any information on the game yet: ggxrd.com. For now, only a trailer is available on Youtube.

Epitanime convention will be held at IONIS's technological pole in Kremlin-Bicêtre (near Paris) from May 17 to 19. Epitanime is one of the oldest anime convention in France, it exists since 1995. It also has the particularity to be opened the whole night of Saturday to Sunday. Entry fees are as follows: 1 day/€8, 1 night/€6 and all weekend/€24. Presales are available at €20 for the weekend and €14 for both days. Each year, a Japanese guest is attending the convention. This year it's Urobuchi Gen, author and screenwriter of Madokaâ˜…Magica anime series and Fate/Zero light novel. The show features the usual activities: individual and group cosplay, karaoke with opening/ending themes from anime TV series, video games and visual novel music, a Zen zone with classic games such as Go, Mahjong, Shogi and other board games, a Doujin game room with tournaments, the Epifestival with fanzines stands and varied activities. And of course, a video game section with many tournaments. This year Shmup.com community will have a stand with consoles and arcade games: Mushihimesama Matsuri 1.5 and Dodonpachi Saidaioujou are announced. Tournaments on Matrimelee, Darkstalkers and Street Fighter II X will be held on Friday and Saturday. Saturday night will be dedicated to shmups with R-Type, Gradius, Darius, Parodius, Battle Garegga, Radiant Silvergun and others. On Sunday, there will be a Puyo Puyo Fever tournament exclusively for girls.

A new significant update to the Asian version of Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 4 is available since yesterday: Rev1.03 corresponding to Japanese Rev1.07. A new area of the C1 road that was under construction is now open to traffic: this is the first time in the series that this part of the road is available. It is a one-lane narrow road that has tight corners. To reach it, use one of the following junctions: Kandabashi, Ginza and Shiodome. Five new cars have been added: the RK Coupe from RUF (present for the first time in a Wangan game), the Chevrolet Camaro and the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, the Toyota Sprinter Trueno and finally the Nissan Fuga. Players can now create their own team and battle against other registered teams. Members can paste team stickers on their windows. Use the external terminal to create your team. Each registered team name is reserved and some names can not be used (as Project D?). In Online Ghost Versus Battle mode, if the player beats the ghost of a player from another team, he wins the sticker from this team. If a team earns a certain number of stickers, all members receive a special title. The "Japan Challenge" mode is now available: the player fills in a map of Japan as he conquers each region by defeating an opponent appropriate to his level chosen from randomly selected ghosts from each district of Japan. Each region is divided into districts and he has to complete all districts of a region to move to the next. The player earns points to customise his car, get new number plates and if he finishes all regions, he wins a special sticker. For customisation fans, 14 new parts have been added. At last, a limited time event will be held: Online Champion Match. All players face the same ghost and try to put the greatest distance between them and the ghost. The winner will earn the Champion title and special prizes.

Scheduled initially for Winter 2012, Arcana Heart 3 LOVE MAX!!!!! is finally released on NESiCAxLive today. This update of Arcana Heart 3 is now in 16:9 aspect ratio (the game is still in 4:3 but two bands providing information on characters are added on each side) and a training mode is available. New attacks are added for each character. To celebrate Arcana Heart 3 LOVE MAX release, Examu will organise a tournament at Hey Akihabara on May 11 that will be live broadcast on the internet. Arcana Heart merchandising will be sold during the tournament: T-shirts (between ¥2500 and ¥4000) and towels (¥2500) created for the occasion. The fans previously voted to choose the three characters that would be represented on towels: Akane, Elsa and Clarisse won the contest. There are two versions of the towels: one with the girls in usual clothes and the other in swimsuit. The tournament registration fee is ¥100 and up to 128 players can register. Note also that the "Examu CUP 2013" will take place this Summer but the location has not yet been determined.